The Breaking Of The Charm

The first news of the Russian attack on Aberdeen was received in
London soon after five o'clock on the afternoon of the 30th, and
produced an effect which it is quite beyond the power of language to
describe. The first telegram containing the bare announcement of the
fact fell like a bolt from the blue on the great Metropolis. It ran as
follows:--

Aberdeen, 4.30 P.M.

A large fleet, supposed to be the Russian fleet which broke the blockade
of the Baltic on the morning of the 28th, has appeared off the town.
About forty large vessels can be made out. Our defences are quite
inadequate to cope with such an immense force, but we shall do our best
till help comes.

After that the wires were kept hot with messages until
well into the night. The newspapers rushed out edition after edition to
keep pace with them, and in all the office windows of the various
journals copies of the telegrams were posted up as soon as they arrived.

As the messages multiplied in number they brought worse and worse
tidings, until excitement grew to frenzy and frenzy degenerated into
panic. The thousand tongues of rumour wagged faster and faster as each
hour went by. The raid upon a single town was magnified into a general
invasion of the whole country.

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Very few people slept in London that night, and the streets were alive
with anxious crowds till daybreak, waiting for the confidently-expected
news of the landing of the Russian troops, in spite of the fact that the
avowed and real object of the raid had been made public early in the
evening. The following are the most important of the telegrams which
were received, and will suffice to inform the reader of the course of
events after the departure of the four air-ships from the scene of
action--

5 P.M.

A message has been received from the Commander of the Russian fleet
demanding the surrender of the town for twelve hours to allow six of his
ships to fill up with coal. The captain of the Ascalon, in command of
the port, has refused this demand, and declares that he will fight while
he has a ship that will float or a gun that can be fired. The Russians
are accompanied by the air-ship which assisted them to break the
blockade of the Sound. She is now floating over the town. The utmost
terror prevails among the inhabitants, and crowds are flying into the
country to escape the bombardment. Aid has been telegraphed for to
Edinburgh and Dundee; but if the North Sea Squadron is still in the
Firth of Forth, it cannot get here under nearly twelve hours' steaming.

5:30 P.M.

The bombardment has commenced, and fearful damage has been done already.
With three or four shells the air-ship has blown up and utterly
destroyed the fort on Girdleness, which mounted twenty-four heavy guns.
But for the ships, this leaves the town almost unprotected. News has
just come from the North Shore that the batteries there have met with
the same fate. The Russians are pouring a perfect storm of shot and
shell into the mouth of the river where our ships are lying, but the
town has so far been spared.